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Craven Leads With New Technology

Craven District Council Transport Manager Steve Parkinson has always seen the potential of new safety technology so when Vision Techniques asked him to be involved in the testing of their latest braking system ‘VT Brakesafe’ they relished the chance to be at the forefront of new vehicle safety.

With a fleet of 15 vehicles Steve has always seen the benefit of installing technology that makes driving safer for his crew and reduce the cost of running his fleet.

It was the purchase of a Faun-Zoeller ex-demonstration vehicle that led him to getting in touch with Vision Techniques about the pre-installed recording system VT Live.

“VT Live quickly became an integral part of the safety of our vehicles and we often use footage to prove liability and the actions of our drivers. We’ve had interest from North Yorkshire Police to use footage from our vehicles as well, so the benefits are massive.” Steve explained, demonstrating the live streams from the streets of Skipton from his bin wagons on his computer.

After seeing how good VT Live was it didn’t take long for it to be standardised on all his vehicles, becoming a retrofit option on his older vehicles in the fleet.

Steve’s positivity with the recording system led to a trial of VT Banksman, Vision Techniques’ automatic braking system, which soon became another standard request.

Thanks to the close relationship between Steve and Vision Techniques, the company were able to approach the council to begin testing of their new braking system, VT BrakeSafe.

This new system, built in-house by Technical Manager Nigel Armstrong automatically stops the vehicle if a driver was to forget to apply the handbrake when leaving the vehicle.

“Incidents involving runaway vehicles are often headline news and we take that very seriously. When VT approached us with this new technology we wanted to be forerunners rather than playing catch-up once it’s a standard feature.”
As well as the good relationship, the system benefitted for the rural areas, with Skipton featuring a wealth of intense drops and steep inclines. Having a system like VT BrakeSafe tested in these conditions proved to Steve that it really would prevent any vehicle rollaway.

“Nigel and I have spent a lot of time with the vehicle and so far the new equipment works really well. We can see the potential of any vehicle having a failsafe brake system and eventually we’re confident it will be a standard feature on any vehicle. Once BrakeSafe is available to fleet operators it won’t take long for it to be as standard as a vehicle camera.”

As well as this, having a recording system like VT Live with BrakeSafe means braking incidents can be tagged for review, giving Steve the opportunity to prove liability and help train his drivers.

“VT Live combined with BrakeSafe gives me as Transport manager a lot more control. You want the whole package, the complete solution.”

After the success of the prototype, VT Brakesafe has entered a full trialling period with multiple companies across the UK, which is thanks to the positivity at Craven Council; which also leads the the future of these systems - a unifed solution.

“We think the next stage with this technology is complete integration; one system which brings all these features together, recording, braking, failsafes; everything. One piece of equipment fitted to the vehicle that handles all aspects of vehicle safety, but VT BrakeSafe is definitely something we’d buy in the future.”